Sometimes keeping the faith is difficult

By Katie Hansen Kathryn.Hansen@JDNews.com

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2014 at 10:15 AM.

Vanderbilt suggests that prayer, reading the Bible and meditating on scripture can help a person get through the struggle. Reading books on the subject can also help. For grieving, for example, Vanderbilt suggests C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed. Rather than shying away from church, Vanderbilt suggests letting the words of God, and specifically calming words such as Psalms, be the focus instead of the grief.

Vanderbilt also suggests journaling.

“Don’t get anything fancy because if you get something fancy, you think you have to write fancy words,” he said.

Instead, he said people should write any feelings they have.

“Don’t hold back. If you’re mad at God, write it all out,” Vanderbilt said, adding that people start to grapple with the issues once they’re in the open.

Pastor Gary McAbee, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Richlands, said there is no set definition of a crisis of faith.

“Any kind of situation or circumstance that tested your faith, whether it is some kind of a challenge or an obstacle or a traumatic event or suffering, anything like that would qualify as a crisis of faith,” he said.

It can show up in a variety of ways — from questioning a belief system, wondering why certain things happen in life, pondering the existence of a higher power or even turning away from a spiritual path altogether.

A crisis of faith is personal and varies for each individual, but local religious leaders says it’s more common than most of us think.

Rabbi Neal Kreisler, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, said faith has an entirely different meaning in Judaism than it does in Christianity, because Jewish faith is not dependent on the belief of Jesus like it is in Christianity.

In Hebrew, the word faith means to have trust and confidence in God, according to Kreisler.

In Judaism, Kreisler said the point is to fulfill God’s divine commandments as a faithful Jew, and it doesn’t hinge on the “saving-redemptive component” of the actual belief in God.

A crisis of faith, then, in Judaism is usually concerned with questioning how or why God is doing something, rather than a question of God’s existence.

“It’s a common experience for Jews to ask God what he’s doing things for,” Kreisler said, noting the story in Genesis when Abraham questioned God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. “And that’s OK.”

Kreisler faced his own crisis after traveling to Afghanistan. Some of the things he witnessed there made him question the evil he saw and wonder why God would let those things happen.

Kreisler said Jews struggling with their faith need to know the Jewish concepts of how God and the world works to work to get through it.

He said people question God about evil, but “they don’t understand what the source of evil is.”

According to Jewish beliefs, God created free will, and according to Kreisler, it is man’s free choice that creates evil, not God.

“The antidote is for me to do good,” he said. “God gave me free will; I choose to do the good things.”

And there are things Kreisler said humans will never be able to understand because “our minds are too limited.” In those instances, he says Jews must have faith — they must trust in God.

Father Ernest Ruede, the pastor of Infant of Prague Catholic Parish in Jacksonville, said a crisis of faith can be triggered by many things, but often results in parishioners “feel(ing) they don’t have to go to mass anymore” or can go periodically.

Ruede said believers in crisis often decide to put aside what the church has decided is sinful and what is not, to make up their own minds.

A crisis can be triggered by financial pressure, the loss of a loved one or loved ones in bad situations — such as drug use.

A common factor in Jacksonville that causes a challenge to faith is deployments, he said, due to the stress it causes both service members and their families.

Ruede said when folks have a “marriage on the rocks, they feel God should have helped them,” which can drive a wedge between them and their faith.

Personal situations, Ruede said, make it difficult for individuals to find their way through.

“There (are) not easy answers, emotions are involved. You feel God has betrayed you,” he said.

Ruede said people often feel shattered when they put their trust in God but do not see a resolution. He said the answer is in God’s word and communicating with him.

“These are the sources of strength,” he said, referring to regular Bible reading and prayer — even if the inclination is to withdraw and stop.

A great way to build faith is through others, he said, such as turning to a pastor or a compassionate person at church.

Some churches, such as IOP, have crisis ministries to specifically help people grieving over a loved one, as well as marriage counseling and ministries designed to help people rebuild their relationships while strengthening their faith.

If people are going through a crisis of faith due to religious teaching, Ruede suggests they see a person well-versed on the religious tradition’s history and structure.

“I offer that they come and talk about it,” he said. “Sometime it’s a misunderstanding.”

He can clarify the church’s teaching authority, structure and position on issues such as capital punishment and gay marriage, issues that often challenge a person’s faith, he said.

“You’ve got to stay within the church to find what you believe,” he said, adding that when people begin to doubt they often stop going to church altogether. “To struggle with your faith is a good thing. The only way to get answers is to really challenge your beliefs.”

For the Rev. David Vanderbilt of Pineland Presbyterian Church in Southwest, a crisis of faith can mean that a believer is challenged to ask questions such as “Does God exist?”, “Is God with them?” or “Does God care?”.

“It challenges their core stance in their Christian faith,” Vanderbilt said. “It’s a breakdown in a relationship ... between God as the ultimate being and life and a creature, namely a person.”

Vanderbilt said in his experience, a trauma often brings about a crisis of faith, oftentimes death or prolonged sickness, and that some can go on for years at a time.

And just like all journeys with God are different, all struggles with Him are different.

There is “no standard recovery process,” Vanderbilt said.

For those who are not connected to a local church, the feelings of isolation can be even more exacerbated. Vanderbilt said some people can have guilt for having the crises on top of the crisis itself, exacerbating it together.

“God doesn’t throw us away because we have these crises,” Vanderbilt said.

Vanderbilt suggests that prayer, reading the Bible and meditating on scripture can help a person get through the struggle. Reading books on the subject can also help. For grieving, for example, Vanderbilt suggests C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed. Rather than shying away from church, Vanderbilt suggests letting the words of God, and specifically calming words such as Psalms, be the focus instead of the grief.

Vanderbilt also suggests journaling.

“Don’t get anything fancy because if you get something fancy, you think you have to write fancy words,” he said.

Instead, he said people should write any feelings they have.

“Don’t hold back. If you’re mad at God, write it all out,” Vanderbilt said, adding that people start to grapple with the issues once they’re in the open.

Pastor Gary McAbee, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Richlands, said there is no set definition of a crisis of faith.

“Any kind of situation or circumstance that tested your faith, whether it is some kind of a challenge or an obstacle or a traumatic event or suffering, anything like that would qualify as a crisis of faith,” he said.

McAbee added that it’s “easy to have faith when things are good,” but when things go awry is when people are usually tested to see if they can hold onto their beliefs.

In these times, he suggests patience.

“Don’t expect an answer overnight,” he said. “I think if you will take your time, work your way through it, eventually an answer will come.”

And when it does, those who find their way through become those who can help others with their struggles.

“They are a living testimony that you can make it through, that things will get better eventually,” McAbee said.

McAbee said it is also important to find support.

“One of the things that happens when we’re hurt, a lot of people withdraw, close in on themselves,” he said.

Being angry and being hurt are not bad in themselves, McAbee said, because they are inherent human traits God have gave us.

“God is big enough to handle your anger. It does not offend God for folks to be angry,” he said. “I think what hurts God is when people use that anger as an excuse to turn away from Him.”

McAbee said questioning your beliefs is natural.

“From a Christian standpoint, the first thing we need to do is make sure the things we believe are really based on the teachings of scripture and not just what someone told us was in the Bible,” he said. “Don’t let the crisis take you away from the church, from your devotional time … Stay the course. God will lead you through it stronger and with a deeper knowledge of Him than you had before.”

For believers who are feeling strong in their faith but know someone who is struggling, McAbee suggests that they offer that person assistance — take them out to lunch or coffee, help with a task or offer to assist in some way.

“Offer something so they know you’re not just saying it,” he said.

Vanderbilt said the ministry of presence is the best thing — just sitting and being with them, even if no one is speaking.

He cautions against trying to “fix” a person who is going through a crisis of faith by pushing them with religious prayer or readings.

“Just be a friend … with no ulterior motive,” Vanderbilt said. In Christianity, Vanderbilt said, “we meet people where they are, and allow them to be the people that they are while they’re mourning.”